Babysitting Woes
by cncgrad02
Summary: For Gabriella, no matter how many babysitting jobs she gets now or in the future, none will ever compare to this one.  ONE SHOT


**And I'm back! I really don't know where this idea came from. I literally just sat down one night and started typing. Those stories are sometimes the most fun to write! As usual, I don't own anything mentioned in this story, except for the Henderson family. Enjoy!**

"For your projects this quarter, you will be working with a partner," Ms. Lane informed her twelfth grade Economics class on Wednesday. The class erupted in soft whispers of the students asking each other _"Will you work with me?"_ and soft murmurs of excitement. With the simple lift of her hands she was quick to put a stop to the chaos and re-gain the attention of her only senior class. Before their teacher could continue speaking, Troy Bolton and his girlfriend Gabriella Montez- along with their friends Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie- all shared a knowing look with each other. It was a no brainer to both couples who they each would partner with. However, their brief moment of bliss was quickly interrupted when their teacher continued speaking once more and they were forced to turn their eyes back to the front of the room.

"Guys, hello? I'm still up here speaking!" The class quickly gave their teacher the respect that all of East High would agree she deserved. She was in her fourth year of teaching and had very quickly become one of the favorites among the whole student body. All the students were eager to find out if they would be lucky enough to end up in one of her classes. When she knew she had their attention once more, the teacher continued.

"Thank you. Now, as I was about to say, you will be working with a partner, but you will not be choosing your own partner. The hats will be choosing for you," Ms. Lane told them as she waved two hats in the air- one blue, one pink. "The girls' names are in the pink hat. Guys, your names are in the blue one." Ms. Lane proceeded to pick the names one by one out of the hats- a girl's name followed by a guy's name. And so the partner assigning went until finally there were four students left- two guys and two girls- who hadn't been assigned their partners yet. They rest of the class was beginning to chuckle softly as it began to dawn on them that the two power couples of the senior class could possibly end up partnered together after all, as hard as their beloved teacher tried to keep that from happening.

Ms. Lane began to shake her head and smiled at Gabriella, Troy, Chad, and Taylor who were seated in a square- Troy and Gabriella next to each other and Chad and Taylor behind each of them respectfully. "Guys, I tried to split you four up and make you work with other people. I guess the hats didn't like that idea after all."

"It's okay, Ms. Lane. We know we're your favorites. You just couldn't bring yourself to split us up," Chad joked with the teacher as the rest of the class laughed.

"Alright," Ms. Lane reached into the blue hat pulling out one of the final two slips and unfolding it to read the name it held "Chad, you will be working with-" she paused once again to reach into the pink hat as Gabriella and Taylor looked at each other and laughed.

"Oh, dear," Taylor said. "Either way, one of us is going down!" She let out an over-exaggerated sob as she threw her head down on her desk, earning a laugh from Troy and Gabriella.

"Well, Taylor, it won't be you. Sorry, Gabriella. Troy, that leaves you working with Taylor. Alright everyone, I'm going to pass out the instructions and we'll go over them. When you get a chance, make sure you get together with your partner and set up a time that the two of you can work on your project. They are due a week from this Friday."

Ms. Lane began to explain the details of the project, which would include having to invent a fake company and make a budget for said company- a detail that caused Chad to cheer because he knew that with Gabriella's math mind, their budget would be fool proof, until Gabriella stopped him mid cheer.

"I will not be doing this alone and putting your name on it!"

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, letting him do some of the work? Especially when it comes to anything math related?" Troy pointed out, earning him a look from Gabriella.

"I hate it when you're right," she told him, earning a laugh from the portion of the class that was in earshot of their conversation.

Ms. Lane continued to answer questions about the project and then moved onto the day's lecture. When the bell finally rang, the class gathered up their personal belongings and made their way out of the room. The four friends made their way down the hall, pausing at Taylor and Gabriella's lockers which were only five down from each other.

"Okay, so Taylor, when do you want to get together and start working on our project?" Troy asked her.

"I'm pretty much available any night, believe it or not. I mean, the yearbook stuff hasn't gotten out of hand for me yet and the decathlon has practice on Thursday and Tuesday, so except for those two days, I can be all yours," Taylor told him.

As the two started comparing schedules, Chad turned to Gabriella.

"Well, since you two do everything the same and your schedules are identical, does that mean you're pretty much open, too?"

"Actually, no it doesn't. Tonight I'm babysitting for the Hendersons, tomorrow I have Spanish tutoring with Jason and decathlon, Friday is date night with Troy, um... Tuesday is decathlon again, Wednesday is, oh, darn! What is Wednesday?" She pulled her calendar from her bag and flipped to the following week. "Oh, Wednesday I'm babysitting again, and Thursday is another decathlon practice."

Chad just looked at her with his mouth gaped open. "Well, then, when the hell are we supposed to get together?" Finally the light bulb went off in his brain. "Wait, I'll just come by the Henderson's and we can work on our project then. I mean, I'm eating dinner at Troy's-"

"You are?" Troy interrupted.

"What's your mom making?" Chad asked him.

"I don't know," Troy answered dumbfounded.

"Well, then maybe, yes," he answered Troy before turning his attention back to Gabriella. "Anyway, I may be eating dinner at Troy's and can just come next door to the Henderson's after dinner."

"No way, man! I strongly discourage that!" Troy spoke up.

"Why? Dude, we're just going to be studying. I'm not trying to keep you from doing your project with my girlfriend," Chad pointed out.

"Chad, I'm trying to keep you from getting in trouble with Julia. She's totally anti- boys-over-while-anyone-is-babysitting," Troy said.

"She threw you out, huh, Troy?" Taylor asked.

"And I think my hair is still trying to grow back from where she pulled it out when she threw me out," he said as he reached up and rubbed the left side of his head, causing the other three to laugh.

"She's not that bad. She just doesn't want Charlotte to get any ideas for when she's older," Gabriella told the group.

"Babe, Charlotte's ten. She's my next door neighbor. I've seen her _friends. _I think she has already gotten some ideas without our help," Troy told her. "I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"Hello? Crisis here!" Chad exclaimed, trying to bring the group's attention back to him. The other three all looked at him. "Why are you all looking at me like I have eight heads? Whatever," he continued without missing a beat. "Anyway. It sounds like you're available only on Monday. What does the weekend look like for you?" he asked as he wrapped an arm across Taylor's shoulder once she closed her locker.

"Fine for her, but not for you," Troy spoke up on his girlfriend's behalf.

"How do you know?" Chad asked.

"Because you and I are going to Phoenix Saturday morning with our dads. Dude, don't you remember? You and your dad are the ones who set up the trip to see the Suns play. You were all pumped about trying to get Steve Nash's autograph," Troy reminded him, watching as Chad winced with the reminder.

"Dang it! So that means Monday's it for us, Gabster. Are you going to be able to get a start on it before we can get together?"

"You mean 'am I going to have it almost done before we can get together on Monday'?" she asked Chad with a smirk as she slammed her locker closed, causing Troy and Taylor to break into a fit of laughter as the group started to walk down the hall towards the cafeteria.

"Well, I mean, if you want to get that far ahead..." Chad joked as the laughter continued among the group.

"I'll tell you what Chad," Gabriella began. "Charlotte is usually in bed by 9 or so. Why don't I give you a call around 9:15 and we'll work something out?"

The plan to make a plan was made as the foursome reached their usual table in the cafeteria. They greeted the rest of the group that was already there as they set their stuff down to save their seats and proceeded to walk through the line and get their food. Their carefree banter continued as lunch was consumed. As it turned out, Jason ended up having to cancel his tutoring session with Gabriella for the following night because he had forgotten about his mother's birthday dinner that he had to attend, which left a few hours before decathlon practice started for Gabriella.

"Well, Chad, it looks like I can pencil you in after all," she joked as she pulled her planner from her backpack to make the appropriate change.

"_Pencil me in_? Are you kidding? Gabs, seriously?" Chad asked in disbelief. "How can you be so cruel to me, your project partner?" Noticing Gabriella's body shaking with silent laughter, Chad began to shake his head. "Why must you be so cruel to me?"

"Just her way of saying she loves you," Taylor spoke up, causing Troy to spew his milk all over Chad's face.

"Nice!" Troy said, sharing a high five with Taylor.

"Hey! That was uncool, Hoops. Just wait till practice," Chad said as he reached for a napkin.

"Do you feel threatened?" Gabriella asked Troy, running her left hand from his right bicep down to his hand, threading their fingers together.

"I'm shaking in my socks," Troy told her as he turned his head to give her a quick kiss.

The usual lunchtime banter between the Wildcats continued until the bell rang signifying that the next period was about to start. As everyone began gathering their personal belongings and their trash, they fought the crowd and made their way into the hallway. Troy and Chad each graced their girlfriends with soft, quick kisses and promises to talk to them in drama class with Ms. Darbus before going their separate ways, with Troy and Chad going to their next two classes and Taylor and Gabriella heading to their Advanced Placement classes.

**TGFTGFTGFTGFTGFTGFTGFTGF**

That afternoon, when school was over, Troy drove Gabriella to her house for the sole purpose of changing her clothes before having to go to the Hendersons. In the hour and a half they spent at her house, she had already received five texts from Chad.

"Are you serious?" she exclaimed.

"Is he still texting you?" Troy asked her, trying to hide his laughter.

"He is driving me crazy! This is a crazy school project that isn't even worth that much. Why is he making it out to be more than that?"

"Because he's working with one of the smartest girls in the senior class. He needs all the assistance he can get."

"Geez," she said, while shaking her head. "I have a much greater respect for Taylor."

"Why's that?" Troy asked her.

"Because she puts up with it all the time!"

The two pulled up in front of Troy's house and shared their good byes for the evening.

"I don't suppose I can sneak over after Charlotte is in bed, can I?"

Gabriella reached up to run her hand through his shaggy hair. "Do you really want to take that chance?" she asked with a giggle.

"Okay, maybe not. I'll call you, at least?" he tried to compromise. Gabriella agreed and stood on her tip toes to press a small kiss to Troy's lips before turning and walking in the direction of the Henderson's home.

Once Julia Henderson opened the door and Gabriella followed her into the kitchen, she found herself looking for her young charge. Unable to hear any clues of Charlotte's whereabouts, she turned to face Julia.

"Where's Charlotte? I don't hear her anywhere."

"Oh, yeah. I was going to tell you about that. Thanks for reminding me. Her new favorite past time is staying in her room. She says she's studying. We'll see when her report comes out. If you call for her and she doesn't come, don't panic."

"She's actually studying without my help?" Gabriella asked. Just the previous year, not long after Gabriella had moved to Albuquerque, she had become the younger girl's personal tutor, trying to help her get through the last half of the fourth grade.

"She says she wants to be more like you," Ms. Henderson told her with pride in her voice.

"Aw!" Gabriella still found it hard to accept all the attention about her straight A grades. When she shared with Ms. Henderson that she had applied to and was waiting to hear from Stanford University, Julia was so excited for her that she insisted on cooking a celebratory dinner for her one night. No sooner had Ms. Henderson given Gabriella the very brief list of instructions for the evening did the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs fill the house.

"Gabriella!" Charlotte's sweet voice greeted Gabriella along with a hug so fierce, it almost knocked her down.

"Charlotte! What's up?"

Ms. Henderson interrupted her ten year old daughter's banter of the latest happenings at Mountain View Elementary School momentarily to tell the girls good bye before leaving to meet her husband for their evening.

The evening progressed with homework checks, dinner, and girl talk. Having lived next door to the Boltons her whole life, Charlotte knew Troy very well. He was after all her one major crush and she thought Gabriella was the luckiest girl ever to be dating him. Gabriella was very aware of this fact and always willingly shared stories- within reason, of course. She kept all of her boyfriend stories very G rated.

When Gabriella came back into the living room from a visit to the bathroom, she noticed Charlotte holding her phone.

"Whatcha doing with my phone, Charlotte?"

"Just looking at your recent pictures of Troy."

"Well, here, let me help you," Gabriella told her. She held her hand out for the phone and Charlotte gave it to her. It didn't take long for their movie to be forgotten as the two girls were lost in all things Troy. Gabriella was so taken with sharing stories about her pictures of her and Troy that she didn't take notice of the fact that while playing with her phone, Charlotte accidentally set it to vibrate.

Gabriella got up and walked into the kitchen to make some popcorn for their movie and came back to find Charlotte already putting one into the DVD player. They settled themselves on the couch and watched the movie to the end. Finally, when Charlotte's bedtime came around, Gabriella set her phone down on the coffee table and the two girls walked upstairs. Neither noticed as it lit up and started vibrating on the table. Nor had they noticed the other five times that it did so during the movie, either.

"What book are we reading tonight?" Gabriella asked Charlotte. Deciding on a book finally, Charlotte made herself comfortable under the covers with Gabriella beside her. Charlotte's eyes were drooping as they got to the last page, but that changed immediately when both girls heard the sound of the security alarm going off. Gabriella pushed her internal panicking aside and forced herself to stay calm for the younger girl's sake.

"Charlotte, stay here," she instructed loudly over the ear splitting noise, pushing herself from the bed and making her way to the window in Charlotte's room. Taking a quick glance out, she noticed that Troy's bedroom light was on. She quickly made her decision and turned back to Charlotte, taking note of the fact that her eyes had doubled in size from fear while Gabriella herself fought hard to keep her fear unnoticed by the younger girl.

"Come on. We're getting out of here and going to Troy's." Gabriella reached for Charlotte's hand and led her downstairs- taking her time so as to be careful to make sure the coast was clear and the two girls wouldn't come face to face with the reason for the alarm. Gabriella's heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she was certain it could be heard by Troy himself all the way in his bedroom, fifteen yards away. Still she tried hard to stay calm. She didn't want to alert Charlotte and cause her fear levels to increase. Now if only she could force her hand- which held onto Charlotte's smaller hand tightly- to stop shaking and sweating.

As the two girls crossed through the living room in the direction of the French doors that lead to the backyard, Gabriella had the sense to grab her phone off the coffee table. Finally reaching the set of glass doors, she reached for the hem of her shirt and grasped the brass door handle, turning it so it opened. Gabriella pulled Charlotte behind her, careful to keep in mind that her legs were shorter and she couldn't move as fast, and the two made their way to the Bolton's back door in record time. Gabriella spotted Troy's mom in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes from dinner and knocked on the door before letting herself in. Lucille turned in the direction of the new noise and took notice of the look of panic on the girls' faces.

"Gabriella, Sweetie, what's the matter?" Lucille quickly spotted the moisture that her son's girlfriend was holding back and went into her natural nurturer mode.

"The alarm-" Gabriella started, pointing in the direction of the Henderson's house, her voice shaking.

"Jack!" she called for her husband.

"What's going on, Luce?" he asked as he appeared from the mud room. "Gabriella? What are you doing here? Hey, Charlotte."

"Hi, Mr. Jack," the younger girl spoke quietly. Despite the fact that Gabriella tried to keep her own fears hidden, Charlotte was a very bright girl and quickly picked up on the fact that the situation was indeed severe and was starting to let her own fears show.

"Jack, Gabriella says the alarm's going off next door," Lucille informed him.

"Troy!" Jack called for his son. "I think we may need you! Gabriella, why don't you and Charlotte have a seat. I'm going to go check it out. Lucille, call the-"

"Already on the phone," she told him. "Be careful, please!"

Gabriella sat in the nearest chair at the table and pulled Charlotte into her lap, holding her tight. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed as her boyfriend came into the room and pulled up a chair next to her. In her state of shock, Gabriella could barely register the feel of Troy's arms as they wrapped around her and pulled her closer to him. Yet somewhere in her mind she made the connection between the words she was hearing and his voice as it whispered in her ears. The tears that she'd been holding in began to fall down her cheeks and mixed with the comforting words coming from Troy.

"You two are okay. You're here. You did the right thing by getting out. You're going to be fine."

"Okay, the police are on their way. They were actually alerted by ADT and were already dispatched- probably before you two got out." Lucille looked at the girls and saw the fear written all over Gabriella's face. She shared a look with Troy, mother and son silently communicating how they would take care of them. No words had to be spoken. The answer was obvious to Lucille which Bolton would take care of which of their unexpected female visitors. "Charlotte, why don't you come with me and let's see what we can find on the tv for you?"

Gabriella loosened her hold on Charlotte, allowing her to slide from her lap. She watched as Charlotte and Lucille made themselves comfortable on the couch and turned on Disney Channel and became engrossed in the newest episode of _Wizards of Waverly Place_. It wasn't until she knew that Charlotte was occupied that Gabriella turned her attention to Troy. Without saying a word, she moved from the chair in which she was currently sitting to his lap, allowing herself to be comforted by the feel of his arms as he wrapped them around her small waist. She wrapped her own arms around his neck and held on tightly. Finally, she was able to utter the two words that she didn't dare speak in Charlotte's presence.

"I'm scared."

"I know you are. You're okay now, though." Troy was placing a small kiss to her temple when they heard the back door open. All four turned in time to see Jack enter, dragging Chad by the shirt behind him, with two police officers as escorts.

"Gabriella, I believe we found your intruder," Jack announced.

All eyes were on Gabriella as she regained confidence and slowly stood from her spot on Troy's lap. Troy noticed her stance immediately as she crossed her arms and stood directly in front of Chad. Without saying a word, he watched as his girlfriend made Chad practically shrink, hair and all.

Every eye in the room watched as the beautiful, petite, smart young lady stared down the wild-haired jock. She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side, studying his face. For Troy, it was all he could do to not laugh. Holding it in became even harder when Chad decided to try and defend himself.

"Gabster, I was worried-"

"Don't talk to me," she interrupted.

"But you wouldn't answer-"

"Didn't I just tell you to not talk to me?" she asked him in a monotone voice.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then why are you still talking to me?"

"I um... I... Well, I uh... I was um..." Chad began to stutter.

For Troy, it was the last straw. He was biting back his laughter so hard that the inside of his lip was bleeding. The loud snort had to escape, causing Gabriella to turn and face him.

"He's still talking to me," she pointed out, angrily waving a hand in Chad's direction.

"Dude, I'd stop talking now if I were you," Troy suggested. Gabriella shook her head and crossed the room to stand next to Lucille and Charlotte.

"Chad, what were you thinking?" Jack asked.

"Gabs didn't answer her phone," he said softly, his embarrassment and remorse evident to all who were nearby.

"You didn't call me!" Gabriella exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air out of frustration.

"Yeah, I did! I called five times and texted three. You never answered any of those. I got worried that something had happened and came to check on you." Lucille watched as her second son's eyes grew wide and she knew that he must be telling the truth. Chad was not known for stretching the truth this far- especially not over something this serious.

"Why didn't you call Troy?" Lucille asked.

"I tried. He didn't answer, either."

Troy reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. Checking his recent call history, he did indeed find a missed call from his friend who was currently suffering from the wrath of his girlfriend, not to mention what the cops would do. He noticed the time of said missed call and mentally made the connection.

"Dude, I was on the phone with Taylor. We were working out the schedule for getting our project done."

"That's what I was trying to do, too, but Gabs didn't answer."

"First of all," Gabriella spoke up "I told you I'd call you after I got Charlotte to bed. Second of all- now that I think about it- Charlotte, where is my phone?"

It was at that moment that the sound of something vibrating sounded throughout the room. Everyone searched until Jack picked up the item that was making the noise off the table.

"Gabriella, is this your phone?" he asked, as he held up the Blackberry.

"Yes, sir." She crossed the room to take the item that Jack held out to her and inspected it, noticing two things. First, that it was on vibrate. Second, that Charlotte's parents were the one calling. "Oh, boy. Your parents are calling me," she spoke in Charlotte's direction. "And how did it get to be on vibrate?" she wondered as she hit the accept button and walked in the direction of Troy's bedroom located just off the kitchen where the group was gathered to take the call.

"See! I did try to call her! I wasn't making that up! She didn't hear the phone ring because it was on vibrate!"

"I'm glad I'm not you, man," Troy said, as he gave Chad a pat on the back.

"Why's that?"

"Because I've been on the receiving end of Gabriella being upset. I can sympathize with you in that aspect, but that's it!"

"Okay, so the Hendersons are on their way home," Gabriella announced as she walked back into the room. "ADT called them, too. I told them we were all over here. They should be here in a few minutes. Mr. Henderson said they were just pulling into the subdivision."

"Are they mad?" Chad spoke up hesitantly.

Gabriella walked up to Troy and looked up at him eyes. "Tell your friend that his question will be answered in about five minutes when they get here."

Troy released another snort- along with everyone else in the room breaking into laughter- and shot Chad a look that simply said _'I told you so'_.

"Can I go home?" Chad asked quietly in a childlike voice, causing Jack to chuckle in response.

"I'm afraid not, Son," the older of the two officers- the one who's name tag read 'Stelzner', Chad noticed- told him. Chad lowered his head in shame, finally realizing the exact severity of the situation.

He felt a lump form in his throat out of fear of the uncertainty, but quickly swallowed it away, trying to keep his composure in front of the room full of people- specifically those who had been a second family to him for almost fifteen years. He brought his eyes up just enough so that he met those of Gabriella across the room and saw her chewing on her lip. He knew this to be the tale-tale sign of her feeling bad about a given situation; he'd seen it before when she and Troy would argue occasionally. Taking a deep breath, he tried his luck with her again.

"Gabs?" he spoke up tentatively, only to see her roll her eyes and turn her back on him, flouncing down on the couch beside Charlotte.

"Chad, why don't you have a seat and wait?" Jack offered.

Troy gave him a sympathetic pat on the back as Chad sat in one of the chairs that were situated around the kitchen table and crossed his arms on top, burying his head out of sight of all others. Troy walked across the room to settle himself next to his girlfriend on the couch, setting a soothing hand on her knee, drawing patterns along the smooth skin that was uncovered by her shorts.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"I guess," she admitted. "I mean, I know he meant well, but... I don't know. Did he have to go so far as trying to break in their house to check on me? Could he not come over here? Or even knock on the Henderson's front door even? Why did he have to go as far as what he did?"

Troy tried to come up with a proper answer to his girlfriend's questions. After a long moment of thinking, he finally spoke.

"Because he's Chad," Troy said with a smirk, unable to come up with a better excuse. His reasoning caused Gabriella to finally smile for the first time in an hour. "See, you're smiling. You must be coming around to him."

"How can you stay mad at Chad?" she asked with a roll of her eyes. When Charlotte saw Troy open his mouth to speak, she reached across her babysitter and threw a hand over Troy's mouth.

"Don't you dare tell him that we're not mad and it's just for show!" Troy raised his eyebrows up to his hairline at his neighbor's outburst. When he nodded his agreement to her request, she slowly pulled her hand back, carefully watching him for any sign of him speaking again. When she was pleased that he was not speaking again for the moment, she pulled her hand back the rest of the way and settled again against the back of the couch, leaning her head against Gabriella's shoulder. Troy and Gabriella shared a look and fought the snickers they felt growing deep inside. Troy knew that she wasn't upset at Chad. He also knew that she was planning on making him suffer somehow and he was going to be right there in the front row when the show started.

It was at that moment that the group heard the doorbell ring.

"That must be your parents, Charlotte," Lucille said, as she made her way into the foyer to answer the door.

"Charlotte!"

"Daddy!" The ten year old sprang up from her spot next to Gabriella and threw herself into her dad's open arms.

"Are you okay, Scooter?" her mom spoke up.

"I'm great, Mom. I actually had fun tonight." Hearing these words from the young girl's mouth, Gabriella stood from her spot on the couch and Chad lifted his head, watching the scene as it played out just a few feet from where he sat at the table.

"You had fun?" Julia Henderson clarified.

"Yeah, it was like an adventure or something," she told her mom. Julia looked at Gabriella over her daughter's head and noticed her evident nerves. "Um, Char, why don't you sit here next to Troy and watch tv for a minute. Your dad and I want to talk to Gabriella."

Charlotte giggled. "You mean you guys are leaving me with him alone?"

"I don't think we'll be too alone, Charlotte," Troy told her as he pointed into the kitchen at Chad, his parents, and the two officers that were standing there watching them. "There are too many people around for you to try anything. We won't have any privacy," he said in a teasing tone. "But I can do this-" he paused to wrap an arm across her shoulders, pulling her close to him, and watched as she blushed, "-and I don't think Gabriella will mind."

"Take care of him while I'm gone, Charlotte," Gabriella told her with a wink. "But remember... I _will_ be back!"

Charlotte let out an over-exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "Fine," she said.

Gabriella turned around and followed the Hendersons into the foyer, chewing on her lip the whole way, hoping her nerves over what they would say weren't making their presence known. Finally, the threesome stopped and David Henderson turned to face the young girl standing before them.

"Thank you," he simply said.

"For what?" she asked.

"For taking care of her. I can only imagine how scared you must have been, but yet you kept your cool and got Charlotte out of the house, so thank you. Julia and I talked about it on the way here and we're going to make sure you're taken care of tonight." He nodded his head in his wife's direction and Gabriella saw that during David's speech, Julia had been busy writing a check. When she tore it from her check book and handed it to Gabriella, the two gave her a look telling her to go ahead and look at it. When she did, Gabriella's eyes doubled in size.

"I- I can't accept this."

"Gabriella, Sweetie, please," Mrs. Henderson gently urged her to not argue with them on the matter.

"But this is way too much!" she argued.

"You took care of our daughter during a very scary time," Mrs. Henderson said. "We don't know the details yet, but knowing you, we're pretty certain that you kept your cool and didn't panic, nor did you let her know how scared you were. We can't verbally thank you enough. This is the least we can do for you tonight. Please, Gabriella, take it."

Gabriella looked back and forth between the two adults and looked down at the check in her hands. She heard the emotions in Julia's voice and knew that they had really talked about this. _If they're okay with it, then why not?_ she thought to herself.

"Okay," she tentatively agreed. "Thank you," she told them. They all turned when they heard a voice being cleared behind them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, we need to know if you're planning on pressing charges or not," the other officer spoke up.

The small group made their way back into the kitchen. Jack and Lucille made their way into the living room with Gabriella, Troy, and Charlotte, while the Hendersons sat at the table with Chad and the two officers. The ones in the living room tried hard to focus on the tv in front of them and not listen to what was going on in the other room. They were doing pretty well, until one of the officers stood from the table, followed by Chad, and the two walked into the foyer. They heard as the door opened, then closed, and noticed as the officer walked back into kitchen.

"Mr. and Mrs. Henderson? Here's our card if you two need anything else. Please don't hesitate to call and let us know."

After the Hendersons thanked the officers, they called for Charlotte, telling her it was time to go and get in the bed. "It's a school night, Scooter. Come on, let's go get you back into bed," her mom announced. "Gabriella, thank you again. We'll talk to you soon."

The neighbors shared their goodbyes and Troy pulled Gabriella from her spot on the couch.

"I'm going to take Gabriella home," he told his parents.

"Hang on a second." The sound of Jack Bolton's voice caused the two teenagers to stop in their tracks and turn to face the two adults. "Gabriella we know it's been a rough, wild night, but can we talk to you for just a minute?"

"Um, sure," she tentatively spoke up.

"You know, Sweetheart, we've known Chad for many years now," Lucille began. "We just wanted you to know...we really don't think he meant to upset you or scare you. That's not what he would do. He adores you and he was worried about you. We just hope you'll give him a little break on this. The Hendersons were kind enough to not press charges. We just hope you'll keep this in mind."

"Coach Bolton, Mrs. Bolton, I know," she told them with a smile while still hanging on tightly to Troy's hand. "The whole thing shook me up and scared the pee out of me, honestly. But I know we're all ok, and I know Chad wasn't pranking me or trying to scare me. I know he's worried about this project and me not answering the phone didn't help matters. But if you don't mind, I think I would like to let him think about it the rest of the night, tonight. Then I'll set things straight with him tomorrow. Is that ok?"

"I think that's a great idea!" Jack said with a chuckle. "I like her, Troy. A girl-" he paused when he felt Lucille jab him in the ribs with her elbow "Ow! Okay, sorry! A _young woman-" _he corrected himself "-after my own heart! Don't let her get away, Son."

Troy and Gabriella shared a look with each other and both blushed. Lucille rolled her eyes at her husband's antics and stood from her seat, pulling Jack up with her and led the way towards the stairs.

"We'll leave you two be. Nice job tonight, Gabriella. You are a wonderful babysitter. I know the Hendersons appreciate that," Lucille told her.

"Thank you," Gabriella said with another blush, while Troy placed a gentle kiss to her temple.

"I'm taking her home now. I'll be back soon," he called up the stairs to his parents.

"Curfew, Son," he heard his dad respond.

"Yes, Sir," Troy called back with a roll of his eyes.

He drove her back to her house, and the two said their goodbyes- Gabriella making sure that she properly thanked him for being her support earlier in the evening while they were standing under the porch light that her mom had left on for her. After Troy finally left her house, Gabriella made her way upstairs, washed her face, brushed her teeth, and put her pajamas on. She climbed in the bed and burrowed under her covers, allowing the exhaustion of the night and its events to finally be released from her body.

**TGFTGFTGFTGFTGFTGFTGFTGF**

The sun was shining brighter than it ever had, causing Gabriella to wince as she stepped out from behind the steering wheel of her Honda Civic. After the events of the previous night, she wanted nothing more than to get this day over with so she could go back home and sleep more. As she walked down the hallway and was a few feet from her locker, she spotted her boyfriend leaning against the small metal door playing with his phone. She took a sip of her coffee from her tumbler cup and grasped it tighter against her body as she narrowed the distance between her and Troy.

"Hold this, please," she requested, handing him her cup.

"Good morning," he said, earning him a grunt in response. "Wow. What did I do to earn such a cheery greeting?" he asked in what he hoped was a teasing manner. When he received a glare, he backed up a few feet. "Whoa, sorry. What's this all about?"

"I'm sorry," she started. "I didn't sleep at all last night."

"At the risk of offending you and having to make up for it later, can I just say that I can tell by looking at you?" Another glare from his normally cheerful girlfriend caused him to raise one hand in defense. "Alright, let me try that statement again. You have what Mom would call 'tired eyes'. I didn't mean that you look bad today, because you don't. You look as beautiful as ever-"

"Nice save."

"Thank you. Anyway, your eyes just don't have the sparkle they usually do. You just look tired. That's all I meant. I said it wrong a minute ago. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just cranky," she told him as she shut her locker. She took her coffee from Troy with her left hand and he took her right in his left and the two of them started their walk down the hall in the direction of his locker. As they rounded the corner, they spotted Chad and Taylor standing at Chad's locker, just a few down from Troy's. Gabriella paused and pulled Troy so that he was facing her.

"Okay, here's the thing. I'm not mad at Chad about what happened last night. Like I told your parents, I'm just trying to teach him a lesson or something. But he is the reason that I didn't sleep." Troy gave her a questioning look, so she continued. "Every time I closed my eyes and was juuuuuust about to fall asleep, I heard that damn alarm going off in my head. I think I got a total of maybe an hour, if I was lucky enough to have gotten that!"

"Do you think he's told Taylor yet?" Troy asked, as he reached up to brush a stray curl from where it fell against her forehead.

Gabriella peeked around the corner to look at her best friend, trying to read her face despite their distance. "From the looks of it, I don't think so. It looks like the two of them are just all lovey-dovey whatever."

"Then this will be fun!" Troy said with a gleam in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked while yawning.

Troy smiled at her cuteness and leaned down to place a kiss to her forehead. "Just act like you're still angry at him and follow my lead." He took her hand again and led her around the corner to face their best friends.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Troy greeted the twosome.

"Hey," Chad said tentatively. "Morning, Gabster." Gabriella turned her icy glare in Chad's direction and he backed off a few feet. "Okay, you're still upset. I get it. Can I tell you that I'm sorry again?" Gabriella silent sip of her coffee was his answer. "Okay."

"Dude," Troy spoke up. When Chad looked at him, he just briskly shook his head with wide eyes. "I wouldn't, Man."

Gabriella leaned against one of the nearby lockers, took another sip from her black tumbler, and closed her eyes.

"Gabriella, are you okay?" Taylor's concerned voice spoke up.

"I didn't sleep last night," Gabriella told her before opening her eyes and giving Chad the stare down. "At all," she emphasized in his direction.

"She's in a pretty bad mood this morning, so I'd be careful if I were you," Troy said under his breath while giving Chad a sympathetic pat on the back before turning to spin the dial on his black Master lock.

"Um, Gabriella?" Chad said, trying to get her attention. When she looked at him again, he continued. "I think I came up with an idea for our project. Wanna hear it?"

"What?" she said with another yawn.

"An alarm company." Gabriella had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing and breaking her current character. She knew Chad was only trying to find the humor in the situation and remind her of such and she didn't know how much longer she could keep up the charade. She hoped Troy gave in soon so she didn't have to hold it all in much longer. The confused look on Taylor's face wasn't helping the situation at all, either.

"Chad, that's not even funny. After last night and what happened at the Hendersons, how can you even joke about that?" she demanded, hoping her anger was still evident in her voice.

"I, um... I just... I thought it would lighten the mood a little," he said in a small voice while looking down at his feet.

"Okay, I just have to know. What the hell is going on between you two?" Taylor's obviously exasperated voice broke through the tension, causing the other three to look at her.

"You mean you didn't tell her?" Troy asked Chad as he slammed his locker shut and slung his backpack back onto his shoulder. "You almost get arrested and you don't tell your girlfriend about it?"

"You _what_?" Taylor's shocked voice rang throughout the hall, causing several fellow students to stop and cast stares in the direction of the foursome.

"Thanks, Hoops. I appreciate you being on my side here," Chad told him before turning his attention to face his girlfriend's fury. "Tay, you're in a good mood, right?"

When Chad heard snickering behind him, he slowly turned around to see Gabriella holding her tumbler up in front of her mouth and her shoulders shaking. He quickly caught on to what Troy and Gabriella were doing and it was his turn to be confused.

"Wait a minute. What are you two up to?"

"Did you learn a lesson from last night's excitement?" Gabriella asked him as she felt Troy wrap his arms around her from behind.

"Yeah, I learned to not panic when I can't reach you on the phone and to not try to break into someone's house and cause their alarm to go off and to scare the poop out of you."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. You didn't scare the poop out of me."

"I didn't?"

"No, but you did scare the pee out of me. Close enough, though, right?" She felt Troy chuckle behind her and saw the look of confusion grow on Chad's face.

"Hello? Still in the dark here!" Taylor exclaimed, waving her arms in the air like an air traffic controller.

"Hang on. We'll tell you the story in a second. I have to get something cleared up here," Chad told her before turning back to face Gabriella and Troy. "So you're not mad at me?" Gabriella shook her head in response. "Were you ever?"

"At first, yeah. But when you started explaining last night in Troy's kitchen, I could tell that you meant well and didn't mean for it to turn out the way it did. And then when the cops showed up, I could tell how scared you were and started to feel bad for you."

Chad nodded as he began to understand that she was just playing with him the whole time. "Well played, Montez," he told her. "I can see the masters have taught you well. I'm proud to take partial credit."

"Why, thank you."

"What do you say, Hoops? Does she pass?"

"You've learned much, my young padawan learner."

Gabriella and Taylor locked eyes, their love for their boyfriends evident. The two girls simultaneously rolled their eyes. "They never quit, do they?" Gabriella asked.

"Apparently not," Taylor told her. "Now that that's all settled, will someone _please_ fill me in? What happened and why do I always miss all of the excitement?"

"Oh, believe me. You should be happy that you missed this one," Gabriella told her. "Chad, do you want to fill her in?"

The group of four began their walk to homeroom, Chad telling Taylor the story the whole way- with the gaps being filled in by Gabriella and Troy periodically throughout the story. As Taylor's laughter filled the hallway, Gabriella knew one thing was certain.

Despite all the moving around she and her mom had done over the past few years, it was all necessary to bring her to this group that she was beyond thrilled to call her friends. Regardless of what was going on, she knew any one of them would break into a house to check on her if they were worried when she didn't answer her phone.

As that thought was rolling through her mind, she stopped right outside the door of their homeroom classroom and pulled Chad into a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered into his Afro hair.

"For what?" he asked, giving her a squeeze in response.

"For caring enough."

Chad pulled back from the hug and the two shared a smile, knowing that this would be a memory that they would look back on and laugh about for many years to come.


End file.
